Would be interested to know if you were using the most up to date virus definitions and engines for both AVG Free and NAV2005.

Nobody ever said AVG was not as good as paid versions at detecting threats. Just that when you get something for free it does not have all the features of full featured paid software - like free support, more scanning and reporting options, priority updates etc.

For you interest NAV2005 has been superceded by Version 2006 which has a much smaller "footprint" or resource requirement so should run better with other applications.

I like both

Trend Micro PC-Cillin is one package I have difficulty with on machines running Win98 or ME. REally slows these down and that is even when RAM is upgraded to 512MB

I guess everyone has a story. In the end it comes down to personal choice.

Do not ude two Firewalls at the same time. Not a good idea.

BTW not one internet security suite or antivirus program (Paid or unpaid) will eliminiate or minimise every virus infection.

This one from Computer Associates does its job well, in the background, is non-agravating, uses little resources, updates daily. It has always caught and stopped any viruses that tried to sneak in on emails etc. I have used it for more than 5 years since the days it was called''InoculateIT.' I am totally sold on it as my primary anti-virus program. Together with its Firewall counterpart and PrevX Pro, my computer is extremely well protected.

I'm wondering if I DO NOT pay for the updates that are currently due for the McAfee program that I've been using for emails, etc. and download the EZ Trust program which is FREE with my use of SBC YAHOO DSL program, ....will I get the same or better protection.

Norton is not an virus remover, but instead only a virus detector. It found 2 files of adware, and one trojan dropper virus in c:\command.exe

Was it able to fix anything? Nope. I went to their website and it said to just delete the file. So I did. Guess what? Now windows won't load.

And, you have to pay for updates to norton after a year.

I then found AVG free edition. Way better than norton, and free too! Upgrades are even free. There is no longer a point in wasting my time and money (a lot) for Norton when it doesn't do anything. Get AVG instead.

I used to run Norton Antivirus but became tired of having to spend relatively big dollars each year to continue to with updates. Then I also discovered AVG free edition and now run that and find it to be as good as Noton's in my opinion. I have trialled AVG Pro edition but will stick with the free edition. Why pay for something when you can get it for free.

I used to run norton until my hard drive was rendered useless. Put it as a slave to a machine running AVG and it found 13 viruses (Virii?) That Norton missed. Besides, norton tends to infest your machine whereas AVG is simple to install and remove/

I tried McAfee first and it worked great but I didn't like the yearly fee. Then someone told me about AVG and I used it for awhile and it worked ok. Then when I got a new PC I tried the free trial of Norton which I didn't like at all. The Norton Version 2005 worked ok but it used too many resources and I didn't like the fact that it would pop up and run a scan at all times of the day and I couldn't even customize those settings. So I went back to AVG. Then about 6 months ago my PC got some kind of virus that changed the date on my PC to a month ahead. I didn't realize what the problem was but I knew that AVG would not update and it would not find the problem. So I looked around and found Avast downloaded it and ran it. It found 6 viruses that AVG could not and cleaned them. Immediately, my Date and Time Properties popped up and I saw my date was wrong. I reset it and I haven't had a problem since. I haven't even had a virus in the last 6 months. With AVG I had one virus after the other pop up just about daily. And you may not believe this, but you don't even have to worry about running the full scan at all with Avast. The background protection keeps your pc safe at all times. I run it about once a week just to ensure that all is well. I will never use another program. Avast works and best of all it is FREE.

I've been using Avast for about two years now, and I'd have to say, it's never given me one problem and has always kept my system free of anything. (It's warned me several times of impending disasters and has always deleted the culprit without fail.) What's more, it runs like a charm in the background with no system slowdown that I can detect (and I have just 256 megs of RAM). Try it and see for yourself. If you use it for personal use it won't cost you a dime, so you have nothing to lose. I'm one happy camper!

BitDefender is the best antivirus program. Much better than AVG or whatever. I used AVG, and after a while i uninstalled it, and start to search for other antiviruses, and when i put Bitdefender up, i found some viruses that others couldn`t find. For me is the best. It has built in firewall and automatic updates from 3 to 3 hours, by default, for free. See http://www.bitdefender.com/

Hello!!! Bitdefender I think is one of the best AntivirusPrograms out there. 1 because it does not run full time which is good because it will not slow down your computerany... So good unlike AVG. Avg is a good virus program but it slows down your computer to much. With bitdefenderyou can do anything without having a virus program watching your every move... And Bitdefender is free and can find viruses in compressed files unlike Norton and other big expensive programs.

Maybe you should upgrade to tadys spec for a computer and your machine would be slow. How about the other stuff that you have running on it also. Mine runs great no slow downs or lock ups. So i don't understand what you people are talking about except to be talking out your %#@$%.

I went to the BitDefender website to check out the product and found a little note there on the free version that says if you are online on a constant basis, please use a more aggressive version, dah!! I want a more agressive version always!!! This is a product that you use now and then to scan software I suppose. I want something that guards my gates to stop the stuff from getting in, don't tell me about it after it is in tearing up my software. TWO THUMBS DOWN

Don't remember how I started with McAfee Antivirus. I have no complaints either. I find it easy to use. I find it is easy installing updates. Since McAfee is doing the job it is intended, I have no intention of changing my antivirus software unless someone out there can make me a better offer and prove to me that there is a better antivirus software out there.

My PC came loaded with McAfee online update 4 years ago and I have continued to use it since. I have never been infected with a virus, McAfee caught the 3 that have tried to install instantly and eradicated them. This year I had a problem with double billing. I called and got a live English speaker within a couple of minutes and got the problem taken care of within a couple more. No complaints here!Polgaratex

The new version of AVG is vastly superior to the last, not that I have had any probs with it in the past 6 odd years I have been using it. I am a pc engineer, and I have lost count of the number of times I have come across machines running NAV, with full updates on board, yet having failed to spot viruses which AVG spots immediately. As everyone has said, it is free, it updates itself and runs itself regularly, it doesn't take up oceans of space, and it doesnt NAG!!

I usually use it in conjunction with either Pandascan or Trend.

Paid for AV guards? For my mind, NOD32 takes a lot of beating. Not as expensive as the others, unobtrusive, and I have never found a problem with it when I have used it, or installed it on other's machines.

My Norton subscription recently ended. Upon the recommendation of CNet & my web-designer, I decided to try Trend PC-cillin. So far (2 weeks) there haven't been any virus problems. So my conclusion is the protection is equal. However, I find Trend's scheduling options more flexible; it is less expensive; and takes up less space. Furthermore, Norton is slow and cumbersome. When it is scanning in the background, operations are sluggish.

I use both(not at the same time though). Kaspersky is too big and takes up too many resources to run all the time, so I run AVG all the time then scan with both. There is NOTHING these two combined can't find. AVG alone is very nice, but Kaspersky catches everything.

I have been reading the Virus protection utilities that everyone uses or has used within this topic.

I tend to use AVG and Kaspersky, they do the job enough to find any nasties that may be lurking. I also scan with F-Prot, McCaffee Online, Norton and MicroSoft as well as any added Trojan patches that appear as a quick fix to the latest nastie doing the rounds.

AVG updates loads ,it's free and easy to use. Kaspersky updates quite regular too, I found out it was russian and instantly thought eastern block nasties, it did make me wary at first, but I was wrong it is a really good package and seems stable.

As for Norton, when uninstalling it always seems to make a mess of the system or never appears to remove all its files, and the PC never works quite right after unless you format and start again with a clean install. mine and others experiences with Norton. Anyone else experienced that?

I have tried McCaffee, but as with Norton it never seems to find all viruses, but in saying that neither does AVG (that has missed a few to). I believe in todays climate you cannot really trust just one anti-virus software provider, they all miss some viruses and catch others, so use as many as you want, Panda, Avast, PC-Cillin, etc, by doing this you will most probably be nearly fully entirely protected from known viruses. But you do find that by the time to you have scanned for viruses, you have either forgot what you initially turned the PC on for, or the Midnight oil is burnt out and it's morning.

No offense everyone but PC-Cillin is way better than Norton. I found this out 3 years ago when Norton didn't catch a virus sent in an email and totally crashed my system. I reinstalled Norton and it happened again. I thought heck with this and tried PC-Cillin and i havent had a virus wipe me out since. I have family that still use Norton and they have had to have their computers sent in to fix because of virus' going through. So keep up the good work Trend Micro!!

If you believe this post is offensive or violates the CNET Forums' Usage policies, you can report it below (this will not automatically remove the post). Once reported, our moderators will be notified and the post will be reviewed.

Track this thread and email me when there are updates.Please read before posting

If you're asking for technical help, please be sure to include all your system info, including operating system, model number, and any other specifics related to the problem. Also please exercise your best judgment when posting in the forums--revealing personal information such as your e-mail address, telephone number, and address is not recommended.

Old Thread Warning!

This thread is more than days old. It is very likely that it does not need any further discussion and replying to it will serve no purpose. However, if you feel it is necessary to make a new reply, you can still do so.

I am aware that this thread is old, but I still want to post a reply.

Checkbox must be checked in order to post in this old thread.

Sorry, there was a problem submitting your post. Please try again.

Sorry, there was a problem generating the preview. Please try again.

Duplicate posts are not allowed in the forums. Please edit your post and submit again.